It is the start of the New Year and for most companies it is annual performance appraisal season. Most likely, you and your employee will have a conversation and discuss in what areas he or she should improve this year and, together, you will build a development plan. What happens next? Most of the time, very little will actually happen as a result of that conversation.
To avoid a monumental waste of time and effort — assuming you are one of those managers who are genuinely concerned about helping your employees grow — let’s look at three things you can do with the development conversation to ensure it actually yields results.
1. Focus on just two development areas this year: Most development plans fail because they try to accomplish too much. Instead of identifying a list of areas to develop, identify just two: one area that improves upon an already positive performance, and one area that addresses a critical blind spot.
When it comes to performance development, most people’s strengths and weaknesses are pretty well set by the time they reach adulthood. Because of that, you usually receive a higher return on investment by further honing their strengths than you do trying to improve their weaknesses. Identify one area of positive performance where an increase in performance would significantly benefit the person and the organisation.
However, this doesn’t mean to completely ignore weaknesses. Instead, identify a blind spot — those potentially debilitating weaknesses of which people are often unaware, but that can be avoided — and build a plan to address it. It is important that your employee comprehends the risks of this blind spot and agrees that it needs to be addressed.
By focusing on just two areas, your employee and you are less likely to lose focus on the development plan during the busy year.
2. Take the time to visualise the value of success: The second habit in Stephen R. Covey’s popular book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is to begin with the end in mind. In other words, explore with the employee what success would look like and why would life be better for the employee and for the company if he or she were successful in the two development areas you decided on.
The funny thing about the future is that we aren’t there yet. It is easy to have low buy-in to something we cannot see. But by using our imagination and visualising what success will look and feel like — and by deeply believing in the value of that success — we can build the commitment to keep working until we reach the desired future state.
3. Limit the action plan to the next two steps: I’m a big believer in SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) with resources identified, timeframes laid out, and so on. But when it comes to building an individual development plan that will actually happen, don’t try to lay out the entire year with a bunch of steps.
Instead, focus on just two steps: the first step is the very next action that you must take in order to make progress in the development areas, and the second step is the next time you and your employee will check in about his or her progress. The underlying point is, however, to make sure that the next check-in session — and it can be as simple as a quick email or text message — is sometime soon.
As soon as that next check-in session happens and the employee says that he or she has successfully taken the first step, repeat the process by asking for the next step and the next time for a progress check-in. This will build a pattern of success that will eventually lead to the employee being able to take several steps at a time without always checking in. But first, limit the plan to the next two steps.
It might seem like these three suggestions are too simple, too basic. But in reality, the problem with most development plans is that they are too ambitious. They have the loftiest of goals but the least likelihood of success. I’d say you are more likely to succeed with the development plan if you focus on just two areas, have a clear vision of the value of success, and plan only the next two steps to take.
Keep in mind that development conversations and the plans that deliver result are not always perfect and that’s okay. The important thing is that you are having development conversations and you are helping your employees reach their full potential. After all, your employees and you are busy with the day-to-day work. A less ambitious development plan that actually happens and can be actualised is much more valuable than an ambitious plan that gathers dust.
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Christopher Schultz is a Principal Consultant at APMGroup. He can be reached at christopher_s@apm.co.th